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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 2, 2016 23:37:27 GMT -5
Oh! What a delightful surprise!
I am still amazed at how many details this story incorporates while remaining consistent with the canon. The seamless connections to ATWQ, the attention to character quirks, the references to grander and smaller plots in ASOUE. Perhaps they're not meant to be given the Averse's (did that ever catch on?) insistence on the permanency of the unknown, but there's something terribly satisfying about the way these chapters fill the gaps in the Quagmire narrative. I couldn't be more pleased to see a revival.
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Post by Hermes on Jan 3, 2016 12:54:11 GMT -5
Sherry Ann, how nice to see you! You of all people, except perhaps Emma, were the one I was most hoping would see this. Thanks for your comments, Dante and Gliquey, as well.
I had originally planned to make Hector not a volunteer, but aware of VFD through his father; ATWQ spoiled that, of course. But in a way this worked even better. I must admit that the idea of the Quagmires re-recruiting him only came to me at the last moment.
Gliquey: yes, the Stephensons are in TUA, though not by that name (which is a double tribute, to George and Neal: there's a old thread about ficverse names somewhere). But there are two orphans whom Kit recruits. They also turn up in an old, discarded film script. (Hey - might they be in the Netflix series?) Also from TUA is the idea of a person hidden (in a snowman) on the film-set; I'm fairly sure that DH originally intended that to be Quigley, but they way the story developed made that hard to sustain. It was originally Dante's speculation that he might be the Stephensons' brother.
I'm a bit disappointed no one has asked me about the secret societies.
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Post by Hermes on Aug 27, 2017 16:23:29 GMT -5
Banner by Lemona. Chapter 8, The Bewildered Balloonist - part 2. (Previously published in the 667er.) A few days later, Isadora was sitting in the corner of the Mobile Home’s library studying a large book, while Duncan, on the other side of the room, pored over stacks of newspapers. Suddenly he started, as if he had noticed something significant, and began excitedly making notes; a moment later he hurried across the room to show his sister. ‘I think I’ve found something important,’ he said. ‘So have I,’ Isadora replied, ‘but let me see yours first.’ Duncan pointed to an article in the Daily Punctilio from a few weeks before. Isadora began to read. FAMOUS FILM DIRECTOR FEARED LOST
Fears have been expressed about the safety of noted film director Dr Gustav Sebald, creator of such famous works as Vampires in the Snow, Ants in the Mountains and The Smallest Elf, who has not been seen at home or in his studio for several days. Sources close to Dr Sebald say that he had been planning to meet notorious vigilante Lemony Snicket, former drama correspondent with this paper, who is suspected of starting a number of deadly conflagrations.
Detective Smithjones, of the Official Police Department, said ‘Mr Snicket is a very dangerous person. We advise members of the public not to approach him’.
An associate of Dr Sebald told the Punctilio that he possessed evidence relating to – ‘oh!’ said Isadora. ‘Yes,’ said Duncan, ‘that’s what caught my attention’. - a survivor of a fire. It is not known which particular fire this evidence relates to. Notable recent fires include those which destroyed the homes of Yves and Laura Quagmire, of Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire, and of Professor Eliza Stephenson. It is feared that Mr Snicket, as a notorious arsonist, may have wished to suppress evidence concerning a survivor.
Anyone who sees either Dr Sebald or Mr Snicket, or knows anything about their whereabouts, is advised to contact the Official Police Department or Official Fire Department. ‘So,’ said Isadora, ‘do you think one of our parents may be alive? Or Quigley?’ ‘It’s possible,’ said Duncan cautiously, ‘though it might be one of the Baudelaires’ parents, or Professor Stephenson, or her grandson. We just don’t know.’ ‘Well in any case,’ Isadora went on anxiously ‘this makes it even more important to get back to the ground. If one of our family is alive, we need to look for them. If it’s one of our friends’ family, we ought to tell them about it – I don’t think the Baudelaires had any idea about this when we saw them.’ Duncan looked uncertain. ‘That’s right,’ he said, ‘but we still don’t know where to go to look for them. If we could find more volunteers – if we could find our guardian, perhaps – they might be able to help us get in touch. But –‘ ‘Actually,’ said Isadora ‘I have an idea about that. Look at this book I’ve been reading – Notable Families of the West Coast. We’re in it – or at least our mother’s family is. There’s a bit about our parents getting married, here. And it mentions a lot of relatives of ours I didn’t know about. I wonder if our guardian might be one of them.’ She pointed to a picture of a man and woman with three small children. ‘Read what it says about this couple. She must have been our mother’s first cousin once removed.’ Duncan began to read. Members of the Preludio family founded a number of hotels in various parts of the country. Especially interesting is Allegra Preludio, who married Melville Denouement, Head of Classification at the Royal Library, and, like several other Preludio women, had triplet children, in this case identical boys, Dewey, Ernest and Frank.
Allegra and Melville planned to combine their specialisations by founding a grand hotel which would be organised on the principles of a library. Sadly, they never saw their plan brought to fruition, as they suffered a very fearsome death, along with their eldest son Dewey, when their house was destroyed by fire on the eve of their children’s fifth birthday; this was the first of the terrible wave of fires that afflicted the community in those years.
Fortunately their other sons. Ernest and Frank, survived the blaze, and, twenty years later, revived the plan for a library hotel; the Hotel Denouement now stands near the sea on the north side of the City, and is owned and managed by the Denouement family to this day. ‘Do you think one of them might be our guardian?’ asked Isadora. ‘They are relations of ours, who we don’t know about, and they run a business in the city. And I’m sure a lot of the people in this book are volunteers; the idea of a hotel on the principles of a library looks very like the sort of thing V.F.D. would go in for. You remember the librarian said our guardian’s parents were the people who first detected the vigilante faction in V.F.D., and they were killed in a fire?’ ‘That all sounds good,’ said Duncan, ‘but remember our guardian’s name begins with D. So it can’t be Ernest or Frank.’ ‘Do you think it might be Dewey?’ said Isadora. ‘Are you suggesting our guardian is a ghost?’ asked Duncan, startled. ‘Not necessarily,’ said his sister. ‘People can survive fires, apparently, even without anyone knowing. Mr Pym told us our guardian was doing secret work – perhaps he lives in secret.’ ‘Well,’ said Duncan, ‘you can never tell with V.F.D., I guess: they do all sorts of odd things. But it seems a bit unlikely to me.’ He turned to Hector, who had entered the room a few minutes earlier, and was following the triplets’ conversation with interest. ‘Hector, do you know anything about these people?’ ‘I was at school with Lemony Snicket,’ said the balloonist. ‘Don’t believe anything you hear about him: he’s a noble person and a loyal volunteer. And I knew the Denouement twins at that time too. I never heard there was a third brother, though. I can’t say anything about the hotel; it must have been finished after I dropped out of V.F.D.’ ‘We must definitely do something,’ said Isadora firmly, ‘but I’m not sure what. When mystery is so profound How is our guardian to be found?’
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Post by Dante on Sept 2, 2017 16:19:49 GMT -5
A fine banner you've acquired, and I've always had a soft spot for fragments and false documents in Snicket fanfiction - preferably when combined, as they are here, with a proper narrative. As always, I'm pleased to see this story continue, even as my memory dims a little as to what it's about (a guardian of some kind, I think, and perhaps even not a bad one).
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Post by Hermes on Sept 3, 2017 15:05:43 GMT -5
Thanks, Dante . Yes, it is indeed a very splendid banner, for which we may thank Lemona. Whether the story is really about a guardian is perhaps open to doubt, though I can reveal that he will appear before the story is over; however, it's not much of a spoiler to say that the Quagmires will never meet him. There isn't much of particular note in this episode, I think (which is, after all, just the completion of a chapter whose central portion already existed). But did you spot the significance of the name of the Quagmires' father?
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